The Olympics

Would you go to the Russian Olympics? Should our teams go?

Terror threats...and yes, they're from islamists again.

I posted this recently and only one commenter responded because I had another far more timely piece up. SO.........now THIS is pretty darned timely and I wonder ...WOULD YOU GO?  Would you have your family go it you were an Olympian?  Should Obama do more?  We know Bush was taunted for not acting against 9/11 threats.. After all, the left likes to say, Bush knew "planes might hit,"  ...and the left still, today, says he did nothing to thwart the attacks....as if he should have grounded all planes until terrorism was over :-).   SO........will Obama get the same nasty treatment if Sochi goes bad?

And, by the way, please be praying it doesn't.

z

Russians spying on US, and everybody's HAPPY?

Russia is saying the SPY SCANDAL won't damage "U.S. Ties".....HERE is the article!

Okay, hold on a minute; We've arrested 11 people we've been watching for a very long time and they've been arrested for SPYING ON US. And Russia says that's okay, they'll still like US?
Am I missing something? The article says "The suspects were accused of seeking information on issues ranging from nuclear weapons research to the global gold market and CIA job applicants, according to U.S. prosecutors." Shouldn't WE be a little angry at RUSSIA?!

And THEN, WE are saying this!: "Washington has also signaled it does not want the arrests to dent the upswing in relations.....We're moving toward a more trusting relationship," State Department official Philip Gordon said on Tuesday. "We're beyond the Cold War." (Ya THINK? well, I want good relations with Russia, too, but do you think if we were caught spying on them they'd look at this as a "move toward a more trusting relationship?"!! I don't! :-)

Hey, Mr. Gordon......don't look now, but it looks like we're right back IN the Cold War!? But, we don't mind? I'll just bet our intelligence people working on this mind! They're spying on us re nuclear weapons research, the global gold market and CIA JOB APPLICANTS, according to our prosecutors, but a State Department official says "That's okay!" HUH?
z

We'll put OUR nukes down if you put YOUR nukes down...we TRUST you!

Hillary Clinton has brokered some deal whereby the United States and Russia are going to cut the amount of nukes each has. (You think Russia will sign with its fingers crossed behind its back while Obama believes them and feels all good about himself, kumbaya?) This paragraph from the article struck me as troublesome:"Maria Lipman, an expert with the Moscow Carnegie Center think tank, said this week the new treaty could not only reduce the size of both country's nuclear arsenals but also change the psychology of the U.S.-Russia relationship, which has been strained for at least the past six years.

"Gradually the attitude may change to where America is not seen from Russia as a force to be treated with suspicion," she said."

Is this America's goal in dealing with nuclear Russia? How about OUR worries about THEM, do THEY count? Didn't that statement seem odd to you? I'm so tired of our putting the US second to everybody else. We're plenty worried about Russia! Isn't that okay? Can't they do something to dispel OUR concerns?

Here's a tasty little tidbit, the last sentence of the article...."Another 4,200 retired U.S. strategic warheads are awaiting dismantlement." That makes me feel better, does it you? (not)

Congratulations, Russia...you finally got your way.

z

Do YOU believe Putin? !!

Look at that jacket Putin's wearing...is he preparing for a return to the COLD War? America doesn't have enough problems, right? Now that Russia sees Bush is gone and now there are cracks in our strength and resolve....was that their goal? Check this out!:

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia (Reuters) – Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Tuesday U.S. plans for a missile defense system were the main obstacle to reaching a new deal on reducing Cold War arsenals of nuclear weapons.

The two largest nuclear powers say they are close to agreeing on a successor to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I), although U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev have yet to clinch a deal.

Asked by a reporter what the biggest problem was in the talks, Putin said: "What is the problem? The problem is that our American partners are building an anti-missile shield and we are not building one."

HERE is the article. Do YOU BELIEVE HIM? :-) Will Obama's gang? We gave in and got rid of Poland and Czech Republic's safety shields. Did we get anything for that but more disgust from Europe? Just how vulnerable will we make ourselves in the ridiculous belief that "if we put ours down, they will, too, because THEY LIKE US NOW for having done so"?
z

Be careful, Laborers.......A Russian woman's warning

The Perspective Of A Russian Immigrant

By SVETLANA KUNIN | Posted Friday, September 04, 2009 From Investor's Business Daily:

In the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, I was taught to believe individual pursuits are selfish and sacrificing for the collective good is noble.

In kindergarten we sang songs about Lenin, the leader of the Socialist Revolution. In school we learned about the beautiful socialist system, where everybody is equal and everything is fair; about ugly capitalism, where people are exploited and treat each other like wolves in the wilderness.

Life in the USSR modeled the socialist ideal. God-based religion was suppressed and replaced with cultlike adoration for political figures.

The government-assigned salary of the proletariat (blue-collar worker) was 30%-50% higher then any professional. Without incentive to improve their life, professionals drank themselves to oblivion. They — engineers, lawyers, doctors, teachers — earned a government-determined salary that barely covered the necessities, mainly food.

Raising children was a hardship. It took four to six adults (parents and grandparents) to support a child. The usual size of the postwar family was one or two children. Every woman had the right to have an abortion and most of them did, often without anesthesia.

There is a comparative historical reality that plays out the consequences of two competing ideologies: life in the USSR and in America. When the march to the worker's paradise — the Socialist Revolution — began in 1917, many people emigrated from Russia to the U.S.

In the USSR, economic equality was achieved by redistributing wealth, ensuring that everyone remained poor, with the exception of those doing the redistributing. Only the ruling class of communist leaders had access to special stores, medicine and accommodations that could compare to those in the West.

The rest of the citizenry had to deal with permanent shortages of food and other necessities, and had access to free but inferior, unsanitary and low-tech medical care. The egalitarian utopia of equality, achieved by the sacrifice of individual self-interest for the collective good, led to corruption, black markets, anger and envy.

Government-controlled health care destroyed human dignity.

Chairman Nikita Khrushchev released facts about Stalin and his purges. People learned of the horrific purge of more than 20 million citizens, murdered as enemies of the state.

Those who left Russia found a different set of values in America: freedom of religion, speech, individual pursuits, the right to private property and free enterprise. The majority of those immigrants achieved a better life for themselves and their children in this capitalist land.

These opportunities let the average immigrant live a better life than many elites in the Soviet Communist Party. The freedom to pursue personal self-interest led to prosperity. Prosperity generated charity, benefiting the collective good.

The descendants of those immigrants are now supporting policies that move America away from the values that gave so many immigrants the chance of a better life. Policies such as nationalized medicine, high tax rates and government intrusion into free enterprise are being sold to us under the socialistic motto of collective salvation.

Socialism has bankrupted and failed every society, while capitalism has lifted more people out of poverty than any other system.

There is no perfect society. There are no perfect people. Critics say that greed is the driving force of capitalism. My answer is that envy is the driving force of socialism. Change to socialism is not an improvement on the imperfections of the current system.

The slogans of "fairness and equality" sound better than the slogans of capitalism. But unlike at the beginning of the 20th century, when these slogans and ideas were yet to be tested, we have accumulated history and reality.

Today we can define the better system not by slogans, but by looking at the accumulated facts. We can compare which ideology leads to the most oppression and which brings the most opportunity.

When I came to America in 1980 and experienced life in this country, I thought it was fortunate that those living in the USSR did not know how unfortunate they were.

Now in 2009, I realize how unfortunate it is that many Americans do not understand how fortunate they are. They vote to give government more and more power without understanding the consequences. By Svetlana Kunin, Stamford, Conn.

Z: ON LABOR DAY, it's interesting to read about laborers in Socialist Russia and in America.........then and now...............and contemplate our future.